Sisterly Love
by Elven-Princess Ginny
Summary: Chapter 4 up! Finally! Letty’s past isn’t the most impressive, and she’ll be damned if she’ll let anybody talk about it. But what happens when a figment from her past shows up in the midst of everything that’s already going on? R&R Please!
1. Isabelle

Sisterly Love

**Me**: Hey everybody. This is a new fic I just started recently.  
**Shi**: Well duh.  
**Me**: Shut up. Anyway, I won't say much now, just that I don't own 'The Fast and the Furious' or anything related, but I do own any characters you don't recognize from the movie. And I own the plot!

**Prologue  
**_Isabelle _

A girl of sixteen sat in a darkened room with a boy a year older than her seated alongside her. The to were watching an action movie and she was fairly into it – although she jumped quite a bit and did release a squeal once in a while. He just grinned when she did this, and gave her a hug and a squeeze of her hand – they'd only just gotten past the 'friends' stage, so they weren't that intimate yet.

She was quite pretty – she had brown hair that turned almost a deep cinnamon color when the Sun shone on it at the right angle. It went just passed her shoulder blades, and her bangs were just beginning to once again descend upon her deep, mysterious blue eyes after being cropped to the lower quarter of her forehead only a little while ago. She wasn't quite that 'well developed' for her age, but – as she could beat up anybody who picked on her – nobody teased her about it. At the moment she wore a pair of loose jeans and a navy blue hoodie (under which was a tank top whose straps were visible from the stretched neckline of the hooded shirt), which added to why those at school labeled her a punk.

The male was blonde, and his wavy hair extended down to his jawbone. His chocolate brown eyes kept switching between the television screen and the beautiful girl at his side, whom he was very happy – and grateful – to have.

She suddenly moved closer to him and allowed him to put his arm around her shoulders. The girl caught her breath, gripping his free hand in a jerky motion when something on the screen startled her. "I'm sorry, Damien, I really am, for being so jumpy."

The male stroked her arm gently with the one lying across her shoulder, and with his other hand gave her own an affectionate, reassuring squeeze. "That's fine, don't worry about it. It's no problem, Isabelle," he said.

A smile on her face, she thanked him and nestled her head into his shoulder. Just as the action began to intensify in the movie, things began to heat up off-screen as well. Isabelle noticed lights outside and a weird feeling coursed through her veins; she wasn't quite sure what it was, but it caused her body to go rigid for a moment.

Her boyfriend noticed her tense up and spotted the lights outside, but thought nothing of it. "Just the neighbors," he excused it as, turning back to the movie. When she relaxed and settled herself in, her took her face in his hand and looked deep into her blue eyes before kissing her on the lips. The world seemed to stop for a minute, even when the door swung open and footsteps were heard. Damien dismissed this as his brother coming home, probably too drunk to know his own name, as was often the case. That was, until his ladylove was ripped from his very hands.

Isabelle yelped as familiar, rough, callused hands gripped her arms and threw her to the carpeted floor. The first words she called out when she looked up at the assailant were, "Daddy, don't, _please_!" But she knew that wouldn't stop him – although, to her surprise and horror, he started beating on Damien.

"Sir, get out of my house, please," were the words the boy uttered before receiving his first smack in the mouth. One didn't seem to be enough, though, as the tall, burly man continued to assault him, despite his daughter's constant pleas for him to desist. Damien attempted to defend himself, even fight the adult, but to no avail.

The female jumped up and grabbed the hand that was about to strike her boyfriend, but unfortunately he reacted quickly by wrenching his hand from hers and slapped her with the back of his hand, so that she fell back onto the floor. Turning back to the boy, he spat, "You rotten little punk! Don't you _ever_ touch my little girl! Ever!"

Isabelle really didn't want to, but she grabbed her sneakers from the front porch and Damien's cell phone from the mantelpiece and went outside, dialing the police department as she ran. After relaying the situation and their location to them, she went back inside the house and screamed, noticing blood on the cream-colored carpet, and her father standing over Damien (who was still stubbornly trying to defend himself), beating on him. Gathering all her courage, she leapt onto her daddy's back and tried to make him stop – that was when the siren's came within earshot. Everybody froze – the adult looked livid, the daughter fearful, and the boyfriend relieved, yet bloody, and about to pass out.

"You brat!" the father hollered, detaching his daughter from his back and dealing her a handful of powerful punches to the abdomen as he held her against the wall. "How dare you call the fucking cops on me? On your father!"

Before she could respond two policemen burst onto the scene and immediately aimed their guns at the man. "Daddy, I'm sorry! Really I am! Very truly sorry! But please forgive me, Father, I had to. And don't try to resist them, it'll only be worse in the long run," she tried to reason with him. But there was certainly no trace of paternal feeling remaining in him, as he took her throat and help her up in the air, her back facing the officers, and punched her a couple more times with his free hand, and then his her once in the face.

A tear streaked down her cheek. '_Why does he have to be like this?_' she asked herself as she closed her eyes, waiting for it to be over. She felt his hand releasing her and throwing her to the wall, and when she opened her eyes he had started towards Damien again, fists ready to dance. He started to pound on him again, and instinctively she yelled, "Daddy, stop it, please! It's over!"

The police officers moved in on Isabelle's dad, while she sat in the corner, knees curled up to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around them. One of the cops slammed him to the ground and kept a pistol to his temple while the other kept a knee in his back to keep him from moving and handcuffed him. The medics stormed in then, carrying a stretcher with them onto which they loaded Damien. Another paramedic walked over to her, but she pushed him away and watched her father being dragged off by the policemen, and he was glaring at her. She knew, she just _knew_, that her dad wouldn't forget her until he'd gotten his revenge. And if he got out on bail, she was screwed.

* * *

**Me**: Hope you liked it. I know it's kinda short, but it's only a prologue. Please review if ya have time!

**Shi**: And don't be to hard on her, it's her first F&F story. And she's a whiner as well. It's really annoying.

**Me**: Hey! Anyway, I'll try to have the next chapter up soon. Bye!


	2. Heartfelt GoodByes?

**Me**: Sorry I took so long, guys. I guess I wanted to make up for the shortness of the prologue by writing this.  
**Shi**: It's like, three times longer!  
**Me**: Yeah. Anyway, Thank to everybody who reviewed! Hope you like this chapter just as much! And I've gotta go to bed now, but first thing tomorrow I'll start writing the next chapter, promise!  
**Bob**: She don't own The Fast and the Furious or anything related to it... she owns any characters that aren't from the movie...

**Chapter One  
**_Heartfelt Good-Byes?_

Isabelle flipped her hair back behind her shoulders as she watched him through the large glass window that she knew appeared to be a mirror on the opposing side. She unblinking glared at the man as he sat casually at a table, somehow managing to be extremely calm, collected, and … nice. This was no surprise to her, he always had this way of making people believe him and being calm in the face of danger. It absolutely sickened her; however, she knew it wouldn't work on the police, especially because two of them had seen him hit her and Damien, and the cops also had the teenagers as witnesses – or rather, victims.

It took all the restraint she had in her not to attempt to break through the wall and hurt him like he hurt her. He had basically just ruined her entire life – Damien wouldn't want to date her ever again for fear of her father or another family member coming and wailing on him; everybody at school would think she was more of a freak than they already thought she was and be completely avoiding her; the teachers would decide she was a trouble student and not take their eyes off her; and she'd probably have to more away, because she had no more family there. But at least she'd be free, free of this town, free of those people who all hated her, free of this pathetic ritual she called a life.

"Would you like to go in and talk to him, Isabelle?" a policeman, probably in his forties, inquired, using her first name to try and make her feel more comfortable. He'd just walked into the room, and handed her a cold Pepsi to help her handle everything.

She took a long sip of the fizzy, ice-cold liquid and stood up, nodding her head slightly as she answered him, "Yeah, I want to talk to him. I want to tell him good-bye and I hope I'll never see him again." Isabelle allowed herself to be led out of the room, into a hallway that looked blindingly white compared to the dark secluded one she'd just been in, and was led into another room of slightly less blinding light. As she walked in, she was her father sitting at the table, and saw the handcuffs securing his wrists to each other. That wouldn't help if he wanted to hurt her, he could still beat her up.

The cop that led her into the room motioned to his partner, who'd been interrogating the man, to go outside and give them some peace. Then the law enforcers left the father and daughter alone in the room, glaring each other until one of them gave in. When she caved, her father just laughed, and commented, "Never did have the courage to look me in the eye for more than a couple seconds, did you, alleged daughter of mine?"

"What do you mean, _alleged_? You know damn well I'm your daughter, and you know what, father dearest? You're about to lose me like you've lost everybody else. You drove us all away, every one of us, and it's all your fault – I hope you're happy," she said, venom dripping from her normally calm voice. She leaned her back against the walls as flipped her hair back behind her shoulders again, a grin on her face knowing how it annoying him to see her do that.

He rose from his seat, giving the people on the other side of the mirror-window the finger before starting towards his daughter. "Angel, I am damn well proud, okay? Damn proud that I was able to do away with that pimp of yours you were with – because I know what was in his dirty little mind. The same thing that's in the minds of every male teenager."

Isabelle glared at him for calling her 'Angel' – it brought up memories, ones she didn't want to relive at the moment. But she wasn't happy with him. "You know what, you can just mind your own business, and how the hell would you know what a teenage boy thinks, huh old man? He's probably the nicest boy in the whole entire school, he treated me better than anybody I've ever met – that is, excluding the person you'll not allow me to speak of."

"You mention her again and I swear I'll rip your guts out, I don't care what happens to me after that!" he yelled as he charged towards her. She got spooked and darted away from him, accidentally tripping him along the way and making him fall to the hard tile floor. "Get back here."

She grinned and watched him from the other side of the room as a police officer came in to restrain him. "Father, I'd like to seize this opportunity to say farewell and I hope to God I never see you again."

* * *

Isabelle shielded her eyes from the shiny, white hospital floors, walls, and ceiling so she could see where she was going. That nice policeman, Jack Jones, had come with her to make sure nothing happened to her. She liked him, he was really kind to her, especially since she had nowhere to go. The pair walked up to the nurses' desk and asked if they could visit Damien – they weren't questioned since he was a cop and some nurses had seen Isabelle come in with her boyfriend. As they were led to his room, they became informed of his condition.

"He's got severe bruises covering his body," explained the sweet young male nurse, "as well as some lacerations to his face. His left eye is swollen, rendering his sight to near nothing in that eye, and he's got a fractured radius, a snapped femur, and internal bruises. Also, he's a fair bit drugged up – we had to give him high doses of painkillers. I'm sorry about what happened, young lady."

Isabelle nodded silently as she followed behind him, walking slightly in front of the officer. Suddenly she inquired, "He's not delirious or anything, is he, because I really need to talk to him seriously about something."

"Oh no, nothing at all like that, the painkillers didn't seem to affect him that much," replied the nurse. They turned into a room, which was empty save for a boy on a bed, an IV hooked up to his wrist, watching television. When the trio entered, he struggled and squirmed a little in a failed attempt to see who was there. "Calm down, Mr. Drover," the nurse said, running over to settle him down as he motioned for the girl to stand at the patient's right side.

Isabelle nodded and made her way casually to the hospital bed – she hated hospital beds, and more so hospitals, but she didn't freak out she had to speak to him. Once she reached his side, and he could see with his good eye that it was her, he interlocked his fingers with hers and smiled, while trying to speak.

"No," she ordered quickly, sitting on the stool that was there beside the bed, and placing her free hand upon his shoulder, "don't speak, please. This is hard enough as it is. Listen, I've gotta go away, Damien, I've gotta ditch this place, and I gotta do it soon. Got no family left here, no place to go, now that Dad has been brought in by the police. I'm really sorry about this, but they're sticking me with the closest relatives they can find, and that sure as hell isn't anywhere near this lame-ass town. So to keep the good-byes short and sweet, I hope I'll see you again but I probably won't unless the court crap is being held here. I do apologize for everything I caused by dating you, and I know you'll get better, but I gotta jet Hun. Bye," said she, kissing him softly on the hand before she got up and went over to the policeman.

Damien sat up and called her name, ignoring the nurse's instructions to lie back down so he wouldn't shift any of the bones in his leg, because they hadn't done the operation yet. When she looked back at him, he began, "Don't leave me, you can't leave me, because if you do I'll have no way to take care of you, Isabelle." She just threw her hair back at that comment, knowing she didn't need any protection, especially from I guy that she could probably beat up herself. "Come on, I don't want to lose you, and I don't want to give in to what your father wanted – he just wanted us apart, that's all, and you know it."

The female shook her head and stared out the window into the unusually dark night sky – he knew nothing of what her father wanted. "Listen, Damien, I don't need any damn protection, not from you, not from anybody – my worst threat is now behind bars. Now, I gotta go, because I'm going home tonight to get some things packed up, and then tomorrow morning I'm getting everything I need from the school, and in the afternoon I'm hitching the plane outta this hellhole."

He frowned and inquired, "Well, where are you going? D'you know where I can get in touch with you, because I want us to stay friends, even if we won't be a couple."

"Honestly, I've got no clue where I'm going, I just no I'm gonna be with the closest relative of mine that they can find. They're running some searches when I go home tonight," she replied. "But hey, if I want to talk to you, I've got your number –" she winked "– so I can call ya anytime, to make sure you're doing alright." She knew she'd probably never call him, unless she needed to talk to him _desperately_… desperately in the sense that it was life-threatening or close to it, and the only time she'd ever felt in that position for a need to call somebody, she didn't know what the person's phone number was. From that experience, she'd learnt to take care of herself when she got in trouble, and not try to run for help. "Now, I've really gotta go, okay?"

Sadly, he nodded. "Good-bye, my Belle, and I hope my eyes will find your sweet face again someday." She simply nodded, while inwardly groaning at the boy's farewell – it disgusted her in a sense, it sounded like something a boy would say to get a girl in bed. And the fact that he'd called her his 'Belle' – _his beauty _– was enough to make her want to smack him.

* * *

Isabelle tossed the two dufflebags containing most of her possessions into her living room while listening to Evanescence's _Haunted_ on her CD Walkman. Now that it was the morning after, a couple of bruises were beginning to show on her cheeks, contrasting the slightly bronzed skin, and there were dark rims around her eye - _not_ from not getting enough sleep.Walking through the house, she scanned each room for anything else she figured was important enough to take with her. She'd already retrieved most of the photo albums, clothes, books, and movies that belonged to her – her mother had always told her to take an extra change of clothes with her carry-on bag in case her luggage got lost. Isabelle had placed one of her books, along with a change of clothes, into her bookbag, along with her CD case, digital camera, and wallet.

As the teenager entered the attached garage, she took up on one of the high shelves, by the ceiling, and noticed a box which was taped up. She grabbed the ladder and propped it up so she could get the box down, and, once she got on the cold cement floor again, brought the box to the workbench. Snatching up a knife she sliced through the masking tape, being sure not to cut deep enough so as not to injure the contents.

"Whoa," she whispered in awe. She picked up the exercise books and flipped through them, seeing drawings of cars and engines, along with information on different kinds of cars. Isabelle remembered working on this when she was younger; she never realized her parents had kept it, although she figured it was her mother who did. Her mother was much nicer to her than her father, even if she wasn't always _there_ to help her.

Outside, she heard a car pull into the driveway, and immediately ran back into the house with the books in her hands. She shoved them into her knapsack and, loading the knapsack onto her back and snatching up the dufflebags, she made her way outside to regard a police car, with Officer Jones leaning against the door, waiting for her. With a little two-fingered salute to him, she placed the bags in the trunk and hopped into the passenger seat. "So, Jack, we off to my school?"

"Yep," he concurred as he slipped his seatbelt on, motioning for her to do the same, before backing out of the driveway. "Okay, we're going to go to all your teachers and explain the situation, and then go to the principal's office to get all your transcripts and stuff."

She nodded, smiling, and kept her eyes on the road ahead of her. Her classmates and teachers would already have heard about Damien being admitted to the hospital, and being in intensive care, and she knew her name would've popped up when they learned why he was there. Of course, they would all shun her when she walked into the school, so lucky for her it was already halfway through first period, meaning everybody wouldn't be roaming about the halls.

Jack watched her out of the corner of his eye. She was smiling, but he knew she was worried about what everybody at school was going to say when she walked into school. He'd purposely come to pick her up after the first period began so she wouldn't have to deal with everybody in school. "Don't worry, kid, everything's gonna be fine," he tried to reassure her.

Isabelle was being cheery – sure, it was fake cheery, but she didn't like looking sad because it always made people pity her. "I know that, Jack, because I'm getting outta this place, and it's the best damn day of my life since I moved here five years ago," she explained to him. They pulled up in front of her school, and she bounded out of the car before it even had a chance come to a stop. '_The faster I get this over with, the faster I can leave, and the faster I can get to wherever the hell I'm going!_' she thought to herself as the policeman called to her to slow down.

The yelling attracted attention, even from the classrooms on the top floor, as faces began to appear in the open windows. They were all probably thinking the same thing at this point – that weird girl Isabelle, who'd beaten up her boyfriend, was getting brought to jail for a couple years. '_Yeah, that had to be what they were thinking_,' Isabelle told herself as the muttering started.

"So, how we doing this, Jack? We both going to every one of my teachers together, or are we splitting up and doing it in half the time?" she inquired, slinging her bookbag over one shoulder.

Jack thought for a moment, and then said, "Well, you've got six teachers, so yeah, we'll take three each, then meet up in the principal's office in five minutes. That good enough?"

She nodded, and replied, "Perfect. Now, you'll take Rooms 213 – my Math teacher – and 324 – French – and 317 – Geography. I'll take the rest. Let's go then." She handed the officer a couple of papers, and then went off down the hall, running at a pace that would normally get her a detention. There was a reason she'd given Jones those teachers (or rather, a reason she hadn't given him her other teachers). The woman who taught her English and Writing had a prep period at the moment, and she was one of the only teachers whom she could confide in; her Science teacher was a good friend of her mother's, so she knew she could trust him; and her Chemistry professor was the one she'd have at that time anyway, and she wanted to explain what was going on to her classmates. She arrived at her Science teacher's room first, to see him walking about the classroom, checking students' work. When they heard the door creak open, everybody's head jolted in her direction, and she just smiled.

"Yo, Mr. Neary, I need to talk to you," she stated simply, not leaving her post at the door. When he said that he'd talk to her after class, she shook her head and added, "It's urgent, sir, I need to talk to you _now_." The students were all looking at her oddly, and she knew the second that she started talking to the teacher, they would burst into comments, so she decided to clear things up. "Just so everybody's clear on everything, I did not beat up my boyfriend, as you've all heard by now – it was my father, who's now in jail, probably awaiting a court hearing or something. I can't stay here, seeing as I've got nobody to live with, so I'm ditching town and going to live with some relative of mine…"

The teacher nodded, and grinned slightly because he knew that the students had been spreading false rumors. "Very well, Isabelle, approach the desk, please," he said, motioning his hand towards his desk, towards which he was walking. Once they were there, he handed her a sealed envelope before talking to her in a whisper so only they could here. "That's a letter for you, kind of a good-bye from the family, alright? I'd heard the details last night, when I was in to speak to your father about what was going to happen to you. I'm very sorry to hear about what happened, as I'm sure you've already heard from everybody you've talked to."

She smiled as she stuffed it into the pocket of her hoodie, and she responded, "Thank you, and I have. I just need some things from you…"

* * *

Isabelle knocked on the Chemistry Lab door, and waited anxiously for somebody to answer it. She'd been to see her English/Writing teacher, whom she spent nearly three minutes talking to, and was now prepared to speak to her class.

"Hello, what is it – hey, Isabelle!" was the reply that soon came to her knock, as a tall guy answered the door. "I was wondering when you'd get here – we'd already gotten word from a certain law enforcer that you'd be visiting."

She just grinned stupidly, like a three-year-old who'd just received a lollipop. "That would've been Jack, I presume? And don't none of you people worry –" she indicated her classmates "- because he's not my parole officer. I'm ditching town, folks!"

Everybody just stared at her, confused, while the teacher just gathered the things he needed to give her. One of the students, a girl who would talk to her every once in a while, piped up, "Isabelle, why do you need to leave town?"

"Because I've got nowhere to live," she firmly stated, "not here anyway. My father got put in prison for assault, for putting my boyfriend in intensive care. Hence, I'm left fatherless, so I've got to go somewhere where I have family – unfortunately I've got no clue where that is yet. But they do, and I've been too lazy to ask. It's probably somewhere lame like up in Alabama or something…" They all laughed, more so at her predicament than what she was amused by. "Anyway, I hope you all have very horrible lives, and I do hope I'll never see any of you again, so… bye?" She winked at them, for some unknown reason, and went over to the teacher. "So, Mr. Cramm, that's everything?" she inquired as she took the small file he was holding out to you?"

He nodded, grinning, and replied, "Yes-sir-ree Bob. Now, good bye to you, girlie, and I hope you keep doing good in Chemistry."

Isabelle nodded and said her final farewell to the people she'd spent the better part of the last five years of her life with. When she exited she booted it down the hall, up two sets of stairs, and into and office where Jack was waiting with the principal. "Everything squared away here?"

"Yes, Isabelle," Jack answered before giving a little chuckle. "You were being too slow. Having talks with people, were you?"

She shrugged, a smile on her face as she waved a farewell to the Principal and walked alongside Jack towards the entrance. "Meh, just telling people what a joy it is to be leaving here and free of them," she explained and laughed.

* * *

**Me**: Well, there ya go. Now, ya see that little button on the bottom left of the screen? Go review. Please? Flames accepted and will be used to roast marshmallows. Bai bai! 


	3. On What Charges?

**Me**: Hiya guys! Whoa, thanks for all the reviews, this is awesome! I hope you guys keep it up! I would've had this up like, twelve hours ago, but there was a power outage, and my parents have this thing about /not/ spending all day on the computer… Anyway, enjoy!  
**Bob**: Yeah, yeah… she don't own shit. Except her characters. Oh, and she would like to note that this story takes place around the timeline of the Fast and the Furious… and possibly 2 Fast 2 Furious if she wants to keep it going. Right now it's a little before the first movie starts.

**Chapter Two  
**_On What Charges?_

Half a dozen cars sat dormant in the parking lot outside of a fairly well known garage with 'DT' on the front outside wall. The side door was wide open, and a bunch of half-taken apart vehicles lay inside, being picked at by a few people in their twenties. Outside, the Sun was riding high in the sky, signaling that it was just after noon, and the outside air was almost enough to cook you.

"Hey, Dom, we're taking our break now, alright?" called one of the males, around 24 years of age. He was about six foot, fairly muscular, and overall pretty dangerous-looking with a tattoo on his right arm that took up nearly half of it, and another, smaller one on his left upper-arm. Short, dark hair graced his head, and scruffy hair extended from the side of his face to his chin and covered his upper lip.

From an office came a deep reply of, "Fine, and are you almost done with that Mustang?"

A female's voice replied, "Yeah, just about. Why, does it need to be done this afternoon or something?" The 23-year-old girl to whom to voice belonged stepped into the doorway of the office in the back of the garage, pushing her bangs out of her face. Her dark hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail which extended down passed her shoulders a short way, and some of her bangs still stuck to her forehead. The tight white T-shirt was smudged lightly in spots with oil and grease, contrasting against her bronzed skin, and marks of the same substances were barely visible on the hips of her jeans were she'd wiped off her hands.

The deep-voiced man stood up, rising to a height that would beat the six-foot man who'd just asked for a break and was the same age as him. He was big, to say the least – tall, and muscular – and wore a white wife-beater along with slightly baggy jeans, and a cross around his neck. He walked over to her, laying one hand on her waist and looking down at her, as he answered, "He wants it back tonight, so I want you guys to have it done before supper."

She gave him a little smirk, and leaned in toward him slowly before turning around and walking back towards the others. "You hear that? Let's get it don't this afternoon so maybe Dom will let us off early or something," she said, grinning as she put an arm across the shoulders of the only other female in the building.

Dominic Toretto walked out of his office and towards the two girls, placing his hands on their shoulders. "Aw, Letty, why are you making me look like the bad guy, huh?" he asked, a grin playing on his lips.

"Aw, Dom," she imitated him, slipping out from under the grasp of his hand on her shoulder, "maybe because you're the boss?" Letty grinned to see him standing there, both his hands now on the other girl's shoulders. "So, what's here for food, huh? I'm hungry."

A voice from under the car they're been working on came, "Damn, girl, you're always hungry." Leon, a guy the same age as Letty slipped out and stood up, wiping his hands off in the rag in his pocket, and laughed as she flipped him off. He was shorted than Dominic, and not nearly as big – he wasn't really scrawny, and he had a bit of muscles on him. From the dark muscle shirt he wore, they could see the tattoo on his right shoulder. "Damn, Letty, why you always so mean?" he inquired playfully, leaning against the Mustang.

She just laughed back at him. "Me, mean? Brother, you have never seen me mean."

"Yo, anybody want something to drink?" called someone in the back of the garage, the man who'd previously told Dominic they were going on their break. He was kneeling in front of the open refrigerator, taking out a drink for himself. They all piped up at once, and it took Dom's yelling to get them to speak one by one, voicing their drink orders. "So then…" Vince said, as he looked through the bottles in the fridge, "beer for everybody except Mia… who wants her Iced Tea…"

Laughs came from most of the garage's occupants as Mia Toretto walked away from her brother, over to the fridge and snatched the bottle of Iced Tea from Vince's hand. She was shorter than her brother, and had a slender build – and appeared to be more of the 'girly' type than Letty was, although she wasn't all that girly. Her dark hair cascaded down her back to a few inches above her buttocks, and there was not a drop of grease on her. She dressed in a black T-shirt and nice black pants, and as the only one who appeared civilized in the group, and one of the youngest, only aged at 21. "Guys, now I know you're not making fun of my Iced Tea."

Letty just smiled as she caught the Corona Vince tossed to her. "You just need to get a new drink – I still don't see what's wrong with a nice, refreshing beer while we're working." Opening the bottle, she downed a little bit of it and walked over to her boyfriend, allowing him to put an arm around her waist.

A sign escaped Mia's mouth as she replied, "Simple, Let. You never know when something really important will come up and you'll have to drive somewhere right away. And you all know," she swirled around to get a good look at everybody in the garage, "that I'm not letting any of you drive out of here until two hours after you've been drinking!"

"Aw, come on girl," the last member of the group said, ambling over to her and giving her a hug, "you wouldn't be so cruel as to take away our cars, would you?" He was the youngest in the group, 19 or 20 possibly, and talk about scrawny! Not anorexic or anything, but just really thin, although he did have a little bit of muscle. He was cute, kind of like the little kid of the group whom all the guys wanted to keep from harm, and had blonde hair always covered by his now-trademark beanie.

She laughed as she leaned against him for a moment, replying, "Nah, Jesse, I would never take away any of your cars – I'd just take the keys!" They all suddenly glanced over to the desk upon which their keys were kept, and unfortunately the younger Toretto was closer than anybody to them, giving her the opportunity to run over and stuff them in her pocket. "See?"

Loud groans shot themselves at the girl, but they were too lazy to bother with her so they just sat down and rested. Dominic and Letty went into the office and shut the door, which signaled to everybody to keep their distance, while Leon and Vince started talking about what was on television the night before. Mia said something about getting a little bit of sun before stepping out of the garage, and Jesse sat at the computer at the desk, surfing the net for new top-end car parts.

They weren't fifteen minutes into their break when something disrupted them from their relaxation – the telephone was ringing. Figuring that Dominic would get it as usual, the guys just left it to itself, and outside Mia hadn't heard it, so she was in no rush to answer it. It wasn't until a booming voice from the office told somebody to pick it up that Jesse snatched up the receiver.

"You, this is DT Garage, what do you need?" Jess answered the ringing, holding the phone to his ear and placing his Corona on the desk. He swirled the chair around to face the side door and see Mia – having heard her bother holler something, stroll in. She quietly inquired to him as to who it was and what they wanted, but he waved her away and waited for the other person to reply.

When they did, it was most definitely a woman who responded, and strictly too. "Excuse me, but it's rude to answer the phone like that, and you never know, but it might cause you to lose business in the long run. Anyway, I need to know if Leticia Maroulis is there."

Jesse bit his lip for a moment, not recognizing the name, and put his hand over the receiver. "Mia, they're asking for somebody and I've no idea who," he told her, and she just smiled, holding her hand out for him to give her the phone. "Thanks girl."

"Yes, this is DT Garage – who was it you requested to speak to?" the female Toretto asked in a professional voice. As the person commented on how polite she was, a grin graced her face, but when they mentioned who they wanted to speak to, the grin disappeared. Holding the phone away from her, she muttered '_Oh, shit…_' and walked over to the office door, knocking on it. "Letty, phone!" Noticing that Vince, Leon, and Jesse were watching her intently, she waved them away with her hand. "I'll tell you in a couple minutes, okay?"

A slightly out of breath Letty swung the door open and, noticing the expression on her co-worker's face, countered with a bewildered look as she accepted the phone. "Yeah," she said casually, leaning against the doorframe and her boyfriend's chest, "I'm Letty Maroulis. Who are you and what do you want?"

Mia knew that the guys were still there and watching; she could feel their eyes boring into the back of her neck. Responding to a new look given to her by Letty, she walked towards the boys and turned them around, before putting her hands square on Leon and Vince's backs and pushing them outside. Seeing that Jesse was standing there still, she went back and took his hand, leading him to the other guys while saying, "You gotta go too hotshot."

"Would you like to explain any of that, Mia, because I don't get shit," Jesse said when they got outside. "I didn't know that Letty's name was Leticia Maroulis… I thought she just goes by Letty."

She bit her lip for a second, wondering if Letty would get mad at her for saying anything to them. Then again, if she didn't, they would be constantly on her, Letty's, and Dom's butts for weeks to come, asking them to tell them the truth. "That's her real name, but she hasn't been called that or gone by that in years," she explained, glancing inside to see what the girl was doing. Letty was pacing back and forth in front of Dominic, who was being more stoic than usual and was drinking his beer.

"Oh yeah," Vince said suddenly, an almost pensive expression upon his rough face as he remember back to his childhood. "We used to call her that to piss her off when she was annoying us."

Mia was just nodding when she heard her name yelled from inside. Instantly, she froze on the spot, afraid that her brother had heard her talking about Letty in the old days and he was going to hit her or something. The three of them had, for years, had an understanding that they didn't talk about their childhood unless it didn't involve… _that_. But she knew she had to go in, otherwise her brother would get madder, or suspect something. As she walked inside, Letty ran up to her, a mixture of worry and anger evident on her face. Mia raised her hands in the air and said, "I didn't do it!"

Dom followed his girlfriend towards his sister, and kissed the first on the back of the neck, whispering something into her ear. "Mia," he then said, looking over at her, "I need you to drive Letty somewhere – it's _really_ important. She's had a beer and is kind of… shocked at the moment, so I don't need her driving and causing an accident."

"A…alright," she said, and stared at Letty's face. That girl never showed any emotion, or very little, but at that moment she looked about ready to kill somebody. "So where to?"

Leticia stared into the other female's eyes, seeing worry in them, worry for her. She didn't need anybody to be concerned with her, she was perfectly capable of taking care of everything by herself. "Girl," she said, walking passed her and whispering, "to the Police Station."

Mia whirled around on her heels and watched as she made her way towards the exit. "Why do you need to go to the police station? On what charges are they calling you in?"

Dominic took hold of his sister's arms, knowing it would calm her down, and turned her around to face him. "She's not being arrested, she needs to go there because of something that happened with her family. Don't press that matter, because I'm sure it'll just piss her off more and we obviously don't want that, and she'll probably tell you on the way there anyway. Alright sister?"

"Al… alright Dom," she concurred as he released her. She bolted after Letty and into her car; as she passed the guys, she heard them say something to her but she didn't know what. Into the driver's seat she went, and didn't look over at her passenger for fear of her freaking out.

Halfway there, Letty finally piped up. "Thanks for doing this… Dom wasn't going to let me go on my own, and I knew you were the best choice, and the safest, seeing as I couldn't bring him. And since you already know my family, it's gong to make it easier now that you're here. You see, my father beat up this kid and put him in intensive care, and he hit my little sister too. So he's being whisked away to prison and my sister's got nowhere to go… Mia, I've gotta take care of her. She's coming to live with us, by the cops' orders, and we're going to pick her up."

"That's fine, Let, what are you worried about? It's a sin about what he did to them, I know, but since he's gonna be in prison, and she'll be with us – and Dominic – she's safer than any other teenager in the country," Mia told her, thinking it would help. She kind of did a double take on Leticia when she started laughing. "What's wrong with you? First you're pissed off, then you're all worried and sad, and now you're laughing! What the hell kind of drugs are you on?"

This just made her laugh more, and when she was finally able to breathe, she looked over at Mia and inquired, "Man, how much is it going to screw that kid up living with us and four guys?"

The driver shook her head, a smile upon her face now, and commented, "She was already screwed up by living with you for the first third of her life, so I don't think living with us is gonna make much difference. Your sister was your own personal little minion, man, and you had her naming off cars since she was, like, two."

"Actually, I do believe her first word was Nissan," replied Letty jokingly, as they pulled into the parking lot of the police station. "Well, here goes nothing."

* * *

The two women were led, by a fairly chubby policeman, to a room in the north corner of the precinct. When they strode into the room, Isabelle was sitting with her back to them, chatting with a sort of good-looking, middle-aged cop. The officer looked up towards the door and saw them walk in; the teenager followed his gaze to find her sister – along with a girl who appeared to be her friend – standing at the door. Isabelle kind of dropped her bottom jaw, though it wasn't at all visible, and she stared at them with slight confusion evident on her features. Wait… was that her sister? She was so different than she remembered her…

"Are you Leticia Maroulis?" the policeman said, rising from his seat and starting towards the pair, resting a supportive hand on the teen's shoulder.

Letty seemed to then regain some of her sauciness, as she replied, "Yeah, I am, now who the hell are you?" Mia had to shake her head at this – sure, it was amusing and almost a relief that she'd gotten her personality back from before the phone call, but she'd just said that to a police officer.

The policeman walked towards her, attempting to intimidate her, as he stood half a dozen inches taller than her. "_I_," he said in a deep voice, "am Officer Jack Jones, thank you very much. I've been watching over young Miss Maroulis since the incident on Sunday."

Mia smiled at the policeman, effectively hiding her dislike for his kind, as she laid an arm across Letty's shoulders. She watched as her friend let out an unknown breath from knowing she was there beside her. "And Officer," replied she in a cheery tone, "we are very thankful to you for doing that, honest to God. I apologize for my friends… attitude, but as you may be able to tell, the fact that her father would do what he did has taken a toll on her emotionally."

He grinned back at her and replied, "So I see. I'll give you all a minute while I go get some papers that need to be signed." With that said, he exited the room, leaving the three girls all alone.

It was then that the older girls noticed the bruises on the younger's face, and Letty suddenly appeared to be extremely pissed. Taking notice of the nearest wall, she whirled toward it and sent her fist into it, muttering swears words as she did. Isabelle didn't look scared, shaken, or even surprised that she did this; rather, the teen appeared relatively unfazed. The unrelated female tilted her head to the side a little, questioningly, and was about to utter something when the youngster started in on her sister.

"How could you do that to me?" was the first question raised. Letty looked at her oddly, almost confusedly, urging the girl to explain herself. "You left me with him, didn't even bother keep a watch on me after you moved out, and I was still living down the street! How the hell could you do that to your own sister? He hated me… the moment you left, he started hating me, never approved of anything I did…" Fury was evident in her eyes. Sadness wasn't even a thought.

Letty glared at her, but turned to Mia first. "Girl, can you leave us alone for a moment? We have some things to discuss." The girl nodded and exited the room, then waited for the bickering to cease.

A minute or two later, the officer that had gone to get some forms returned, and the yelling stopped. After all the forms were signed, the older sister looked at the law enforcer and inquired, "Mr. Maroulis isn't here, is he?"

"Yes, he is," replied Jack in an offhand manner. "Would you like to speak with him?"

Letty nodded, and was led to a room with dozens of little booth-like things. Sitting in one, her father was soon led out and seated across from her, a piece of glass the only thing separating them.

A hollow laugh escaped the man's mouth as her saw her. "You? I can't fucking believe this – they gave her to you? That is un-fucking-believable. How the hell are you going to take care of her when you're probably still doing that asshole of a kid, Toretto?" His voice was stained with malevolence, and his dislike of her was more than evident.

She glared at him, her hatred mounting higher every second that the two of them sat there talking. "I'm gonna take care of her a hell of a lot better than you ever did, Dad!" she nearly screamed, her hands clenching into fists. "If you ever, _ever_ touch her again, old man, I swear I will hunt you down and kill you, slowly and painfully."

As she got up and walked towards the exit, Jack approached the glass keeping the girls' father from them, and whistled. "Damn, you're not very popular with your family, are you?"

* * *

**Me**: What did you think? Tell me, I don't care if it's good or bad! Anyways, I must be off... _au revoir_!


	4. Meeting Old Faces and New

**Me**: Hey guys! Here's Chapter Three – I know I made you wait really long for it, and I'm terribly sorry. I had a research paper due last Friday which I managed to finish on Thursday, and my English teacher was loading assignments on us like there was no tomorrow. It was nuts! Plus, my finals start tomorrow (bleh) so I've gotta get to studying. And this weekend I've got my karate exam which I wanna do really good on (I'm an orange belt now, so I'm going to get my green, or if I'm extremely lucky, my blue), and the stuff takes up a good chunk of the weekend. Plus I gotta study lots and lots for my Science exam, so… to put it bluntly, I'm might not get a chance to post a new chapter for another couple weeks. Gomen nasai! (I'm sorry)  
**Shi**: clears throat Now that she's done ranting… Remember, this story takes place before, during, and after _The Fast and the Furious_, and may persist through and after _2 Fast 2 Furious_ if there is enough interest in the story and she doesn't get a writer's block. Now, on with the fic!

Chapter Three  
_Meeting Old Faces and New_

The ride back to the garage was not silent, by any means. Letty didn't think that she would be the best choice to care for the teenage girl, especially seeing as they hadn't seen or talked to each other in five years. And besides, she figured that her sister was still mad at her for abandoning her. "Why couldn't you stay at the house with Mother, or go with Marcus wherever the hell he is?" she inquired.

"Marcus is just like Dad," Isabelle informed her, "so he would've kicked me out of the house, completely ignored me, or something like that. Besides, I think he moved to like… Canada or something. All I remember is that he knocked up some girl, and he was abusing her and all that shit, and then he moved away. And Mom… Mom moved in with Uncle Mike, I think she finally went into rehab. Either that, or she found a new drug dealer that didn't ask for as much money and was pretty easy to get a hold of."

The elder sister shook her head in disappointment at this. Her mother was probably still on drugs… the last time they'd seen each other, she'd promised she'd quit, for the sake of Isabelle. She highly doubted that her mother would've gone into rehabilitation, as that would've been 'too boring and draining' in her mom's eyes. "How long has it been since she left to live with Michael?"

Without a pause to think about the answer, making it seem that she knew her sister was going to ask that, Isa replied, "A week from tomorrow. I think she knew the Father was going to flip soon, because she'd just found out about _him_ and she knew Father was bound to find out. So, she flew out to Uncle Mike's, knowing full well he would take care of her. She didn't bother to take _me_ with her, didn't even tell me she was leaving."

Mia sat silently, driving back to the garage (and purposely taking the long way back) while listening to the sisters' conversation. '_Damn_,' she thought to herself, '_that chick's been through hell_.' She knew that the child hadn't had a five-star life, because Letty as a child hadn't had shit, but she never realized how bad things were. She still didn't, but she knew it wasn't much better than Letty's. "So," Mia piped up, "this boyfriend of yours… how cute was he?"

Letty shook her head… Mia was always like this. A hopeless romantic, she called her sometimes, because she could never get her mind off of the topic of boys. She hoped that someday the younger of the Toretto siblings would find a nice boy that would care about her more than anything else, and they'd settle down.

"He was cute," Isabelle replied with a smile, "probably the cutest boy in my grade. Well, the cutest one that would actually talk to me… most people kept their distance."

Mia let out a small chuckle. "Must be a sister thing, then. Everybody was scared to hell of Let when she was in school – especially when she started going out with Dom. Jeez, I think the only friends Letty did have were… well, us!"

Letty gave her a punch in the shoulder, along with a playful glare. "For your information, Mia, I had plenty of friends. I just didn't talk to many people because I spent all my time with you and Dom and Vince." She turned around to look at her sister, informing her, "You're going to have to watch yourself around the house. It's asshole-ridden. We're the only girls in the house, and there's four guys there –" she notice the interested look on her face "– but they're all out of your age range – well, maybe accept for Jesse, he's only a few years older than you – don't get any ideas!"

The teenager just shrugged; she didn't think she'd be interested in anybody for a while, much less somebody her sister was friends with. Her sister didn't have the best choices when it came to people she hung out with – Mia was about the only exception. "Are you still going out with Dominic Toretto, then?" she inquired, knowing the answer but wanting to assure herself.

"Damn straight," replied Letty, a grin threatening to break across her face. "Hey, kid, I just thought about something… we're going to have to find you a school to go to, aren't we?"

Isabelle frowned and leaned back in her seat, causing her sister to laugh at her. "Do I have to go back to school? I mean, it's so bloody boring, and it's pointless – I can't learn in there anything about what I want to do, and I know most of what they teach us anyway. Can't you just, like, take me outta school or something?"

They turned onto the street where the garage was located as Letty replied, "Nah, sorry chika, but we've gotta put you into school. It was part of the forms they made me sign, and plus you know I gotta get rid of you during the day or else you'll annoy the hell outta me! But maybe I'll give you a couple free days, then enroll you on like, Wednesday or something. That fine?"

"Yeah," Isa responded sadly, knowing she had no choice in the matter, "I guess so." She leaned against the window and looked up the road, spotting some care with people walking around them. "Damn, sis, d'you see those rides? That's RX-7's sweet…"

Mia sighed, and said, "Goddamn it, Letty's, she is freakin' mini you! What the hell did you teach that kid before you moved out?"

A grin crept over both sisters' faces as the older replied, "Everything I knew back then. I had her rattling off engines before she could walk. Besides, didn't I already tell you about how much I taught her? Remember the minion conversation on the drive to the station?"

"I thought you were kidding," Mia admitted, pulling into the parking lot of the garage, where a welcome crew was waiting. She got outta the car in synchronization with Leticia, and Vince was there to help her out of the car. She waved his hand away, and after shutting her door opened Isabelle's.

Isabelle walked out, not really conscious of everybody watching her as she was mesmerized by the cars. Glancing through them, she recognized each one and mentally told herself what it was, then saw the one she knew was Letty's – a Nissan 240 SX. She looked over at Letty momentarily, inquiring, "Oh, seriously, you've gotta be kidding me… You work in a garage, got a beautiful car, _and_ live with your best friends?"

Letty grinned as she walked around the car to throw an arm across her sibling's shoulders. "Yeah, Isa, you have a problem with that or something?"

"No, none at all. I just wanna know how the hell it is that you had the shittiest life growing up, but you ended up getting everything," she informed her, scanning over the Nissan Maxima.

The older sister simply smiled, indicating Dominic, while replying, "Dom did this all. Shit, I'd probably be living in a crappy little apartment and working as a waitress if he didn't take control the garage. Besides, chika, you can work here whenever you want – for your allowance or something. You fine with that?"

Isabelle nodded and hugged her sister before the two noticed that everybody was watching them – or rather, confusedly watching Isabelle. Shyly, which was highly unusual for her, she shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie and stared at the pavement. She heard her sister laugh at her reaction, followed by a little chuckle by Mia.

"Guys, I'd like you to meet my little sister – Isabelle Maroulis," Letty said, a wide grin across her face. She forces Isabelle to look at the guys in the parking lot, all of whom were looking at them, confused, as well as giving the youngster a once-over. "She's going to be living with us for a while. Anybody have any objections?"

Vince, Leon, and Jesse instinctively swirled around to look at Dominic, who simply shook his head, and then they guys imitated him. Leon piped up, "Are we allowed to know _why_ she's staying with us?"

After getting the go-ahead from his girlfriend, Dom gave a simple explanation of, "Her father beat the shit out of some kid and ended up in jail. Letty got custody of her."

There was silence before Leon smiled and said, "Letty's got parents? Damn… all this time I was thinking that Dom just found her under a rock or something."

Letty grinned as everybody else, while giving a playful threat to him. Isabelle looked into her sister's eyes, and she found something that, on some level, surprised her – she saw that her sister felt these people were family. Isa bit her bottom lip, suddenly feeling very uneasy at her presence in her sister's life – Letty had gotten over her, she'd moved on, and now she had come running back in, asking for everything.

"Yo, yo, shut up!" Letty called over the laughs. "Isabelle, I would like you to meet Vince Lopez, whom you must avoid at all costs –" she motioned towards V, who growled at Letty but gave a small smile and a wink to the teenager. "And Leon Velasquez, who thinks he's all pro at video games," she indicated Leon, leaning against the side of his Skyline, who gave a little salute to the girl. "Jesse Simmons, our little mad scientist and computer genius," she pointed towards the former youngest, who removed a cigarette from his mouth to voice a greeting. "Oh, and I know you haven't forgotten Dominic." Dominic smiled at the child. "Now! Intro's are done!"

Isabelle smiled at each of the guys, mentally connecting the names to the faces for future reference. She waited for somebody to say something, but through the silence she studied the half-dozen cars that lay dormant in the lot. Her eyes began to examine the Mazda RX-7, and she began to wonder who owned it. It obviously wasn't Leon's, because he was leaning against his, and she was positive her sister owned the Nissan 240SX, and Mia own the car they'd driven to the garage in – that left Dominic, Vince, and Jesse.

Vince looked her over once again and inquired, "How the hell can you where _that_ hoodie in this weather?"

Shrugging, she replied, "I'm used to it. I wore stuff like this all the time where I used to live – Florida." She made her way passed the boys and over to the RX-7, running her hand along the sleek frame of it, and a smile began tugging at the corner of her lips. "Damn… how fast does she go? Twenty seconds? Fifteen?"

Dominic laughed. "Girl, if she was running fifteens, I'd throw her ass in the junk yard and steal Mia's car. Mine goes ten seconds at most," he informed her, leaning his arm on the RX-7. "So, I'm guessing you know a little bit about cars, do you? Letty's personal student?"

"I don't know a little bit about cars, I know a lot. Letty had me studying for my test to get my permit since I was seven," she told him, grinning.

A chuckle came from Leon's direction, and the little girl turned to look at him. "So," he said, running a hand through his hair, "since you were seven? How old are you now, twelve? Still got a couple years of studying, I suppose… but a week or two with us and you'll know more than most people who've had their license for a dozen years."

"I'm sixteen, thank you very much, and I've got my permit already." She reached into the back pocket of her jeans and hauled out a driving permit with her picture on it, along with her name and any other information it needed.

Letty was shocked by this revelation, and it showed. When had her sister become sixteen? She _definitely_ didn't look it, and… she was her sister, she wasn't allowed to have her permit yet! Isabelle was supposed to go over everything with her and take her first driving lessons together… The older of the sisters watched her sister with wide eyes for a moment before inquiring to her sibling, "Has Dad taught you to drive yet, chika?"

Isabelle looked over to her sister and sadly shook her head. "He said he didn't want to, that if I wanted to drive I should teach myself or wrap the car around a telephone pole trying. And he said he'd never let me near his car, unless he was piss-loaded drunk and needed a lift home."

Everybody save for the youngster exchanged excited glances, causing Isa to give them all odd, '_what are you plotting_' looks. "Listen, kiddo," Dominic said, resting a hand gingerly on her shoulder, "you have just become the luckiest kid in Los Angeles. You've got the best drivers in the city teaching you the tricks of the trade."

She looked up at Dom, surprised that he would just accept her so quickly and without question, and that he'd do something so nice for her. "Seriously? You'd do that?"

"Well, what else am I going to do? Let some driving school asshole teach you? Nah, you're learning from us, and before you know it, you'll be driving circles around everybody at school. Besides, it'll be fun," he said, grinning at her. Dominic looked around at all of his teammates and announced, "Well, I'm sure this break has been really exciting for everybody, but you all have to get your butts back to work, or else I'll kick everybody out of the house for a week."

The three girls laughed, but Vince and Jesse practically whirled around and bolted into the garage. Mia walked into the building with her brother's arm around her shoulders, and Letty turned around to watch her sister for a moment. Leon waited for the older of the Maroulis sisters, as she called to her sibling, "Yo, chika, something the matter? You look out of it. Do you want to go back to the house or something, maybe get some rest? You look kinda pale."

"I'm fine… I'm just… shocked, I guess. Never thought Dad would flip out that much… never thought I'd get to come back here… never thought I'd get to see my big sister again," she said, her tone depressed, but then she perked up. She smiled, which made the bruise on her cheek stand out a bit more. "Thanks! You can go on inside if you want. I'll stay out here a while."

Leon stared at her for a moment, and then decided to walk over to her. Running a finger along her cheek, he inquired, "How did you get this, Isabelle?"

She shivered at his touch, causing him to quickly draw away. "A fight at school," she told him, covering up for her father. She didn't know why she did, she despised the man, for what he'd done to Damien, and for despising her ever since Letty left. "Yeah… to say the least, I didn't really get along with many people back at my old school."

He suspected that she wasn't being entirely truthful, but didn't press the matter, as he knew Letty would have his ass if he did anything to make her sister upset. Leaving her to think things over, he walked over to the elder of the sisters and threw an arm around her shoulders. "Damn, girl," he told her as they walked back into the garage, "your dad sounds like a real jackass."

After a couple hours of chatting, helping out on the Mustang, and watching television, the workday was over. The owner of the car came and retrieved it, and then the group made their way back to Isabelle's new home. Her bottom jaw nearly dropped at the sheer size of the place, which made Mia laugh. She ordered the guys to bring in the bags the young girl had brought while she showed her around the house, and to her room.

"Damn this place is huge…" Isa said as they finally reached her new bedroom.

Mia laughed again at the child's reaction and pulled her into a hug. "It's not that big when you consider that six – now seven – people live in it. Anyway, I'll go get some sheets for your bed, and some other stuff you'll need – when Vince yells out for me show him which room you're in, all right?"

The teenager nodded as Mia exited the room, and flopped onto her bed before glancing around the room. Sure, it wasn't the biggest thing in the world, nor the most elegant, but she was positive that, after a while, it would become something that she could call her own. She strolled over to the window opposite her door and looked down, to find that she had a perfect view of the driveway. Leaning out, she watched as Vince took one of the bags from the trunk of Mia's car and walked towards the front. Grinning as she ran, she made her way down the hall and descended the stairway to arrive at the door just as Leon and Vince, carrying one bag each, were about to come in.

"So where's your room, kid?" inquired Leon, leaning his frame against the wall. He and Vince followed the girl as she led the way up the stairs and down the hallway to the other end of the house, closest to the driveway. "Hey, how come the new girl gets the one with the good view?" he whined, but there was a grin on his face so she knew he was kidding.

A voice from the doorway replied, "Because she's the little sister of the girlfriend of the man of the house." They all whipped around on their heels to see Mia standing in the doorway, holding a bunch of sheets. After a moment of silence, she held the sheets out and inquired, "Someone wanna take these?"

Isabelle jumped to her feet from where she'd been sitting on her new bed and rushed over, graciously taking the bedsheets. "Thanks a lot, Mia."

"No problem," she replied, leaving to get more stuff for the girl's room. Vince followed after her, but Leon flopped down onto the bed, beside her.

He smiled. "You look troubled, kid – something wrong?" he inquired. She still looked a bit pale, which he thought was a bit odd for somebody who'd lived in Florida, but she wore Hoodies, too, so he knew she was strange. He looked into her pretty blue eyes as she looked up at him and saw himself in her eyes.

She grinned slightly, answering, "Yes – well – no – um – no. Everything's perfectly fine!" The teenage girl widened her grin and sent her arms around him, pulling him into a quick embrace, which he returned. "Thank you for being so nice Mr. Velasquez!"

Leon laughed. "No problem, Miss Maroulis." With that he got up and left her to straighten out her things, giving her a little wave as he exited.

Outside the room, Mia put an arm around him and, after he did the same to her, she informed him, "You know, Letty's gonna be mad if you start hitting on her sister."

He gave her a strange look and snapped back, "I was not hitting on her! I was being _nice_!"

"Come on, Leon, besides with Letty and me, the only times you were ever nice to a girl were when you could get her into bed. And you even tried to do that to Letty and me when you first met us! Face it, Le, you're a player," she said, laughing.

The male would not give. "I wasn't hitting on her, Mia. How could you get me flirting with her out of what I did?"

Jesse popped up behind Leon and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Oh, you look troubled," he said jokingly, imitating Leon's voice, "is something wrong? Poor kid…" He and Mia cracked up laughing, earning him a smack in the stomach from Leon, just as Letty walked towards them. "Hey Letty."

She stared at them suspiciously, asking, "Damn, what are you guys high off of? What going on?"

The three gave quick glances to each other before answering, in unison, "Nothing!"

"Whatever… Anyway, supper's ready. Get your butts outside. I'm gonna go get Isabelle…" she informed them, pushing passed the threesome.

* * *

**Me**: So? What did you think? Want me to keep going? How about reviewing, you wanna do that? Please? Flames are accepted and, though not welcome, will be used for burning my notes from school. Thank! Buh-bye now! I'll try to post ASAP! 


	5. Classes

**Me**: Hello again! I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while, but it's summer and my father wants me to go outside every day, and there's four people in the house fighting over the one computer… ah, screw it, excuses annoy me.  
**Shi**: They annoy me, too. That means you're gonna shut up, right?  
**Me**: Not a chance.  
**Shi**: Ah well… I guess dreams never do come true…  
**Me**: Shut up.  
**Primrose**: Gin would like to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter.  
**Me**: Yes, I would. Here goes:  
_Jada91 -> Thank you! I liked it too. And I just updated.  
__ScaryChick -> It's always nice to hear that people like the story. Here's another chapter for you!  
__Vettachick -> Yeah, I think the Isabelle/Leon pairing is cute too. The age difference _is_ a bit weird…  
__AllAboutAngel -> I adore long reviews! Thank you! And thank you so much, I'm glad to hear you think they're in character! And Jack isn't really gonna be a character of much importance, and I'm not sure if he'll pop up again… You thought I would make the sisters fight? Don't count that out! Because after all, all siblings do fight. Scientific fact. I will reveal more – a _lot_ more – about both Letty and Isabelle's pasts in later chapters, but that won't happen for a while. It'll happen in due time, don't you worry! Dominic and Mia don't know a lot, don't worry, and they won't spill any major info. And I'll try to put more Letty/Dom moments in just for you!  
__Angelrose82 -> I'm glad you think so. And your name's Lauren? Cool! Mine is too!  
__Sam -> I'm gonna try to keep it up.  
__Locofiend13 -> Great! Thanks! And by the way, I **love** your fic! Hope you remember to update soon as well!  
__Diesel-Chick -> Ya know, I don't think I've read one either… if anybody has a sibling it's usually Dom and Mia, or Vince. Or an OC. And interesting would probably be the word for too Letty's… although Leon and Vince might call it horrific. And yes, Isabelle and Leon would make a cute couple. And the age difference… it's 8 years. A bit creepy, but hey…  
__LetNys -> I'm a huge Letty person as well, she personally one of my favorites in the movie. And yay! A favorite! Awesome! Thanks!  
__Crazy4thesun -> Don't worry, it wasn't late, it was right on time!_

**Me**: Whoa… that was long. Anyway, on to the chapter!  
**Shi**: Yay! The quiet!

**Chapter Four  
**_Classes_

The sunlight intruded into the bedroom and lit up Isabelle's relaxed face, dancing across her peaceful features and giving her messy hair that cinnamon color she got when she was outside on sunny days. She was sprawled across the bed, the covers only half on her, revealing some of the black T-shirt (which was three sizes too big for her and reached halfway to her knees) and the shorts that were just barely visible beneath the T-shirt, which she called her pajamas. Against the headboard of the bed a magazine was resting, open to a page with a picture of a silver Ferrari on it. A set of headphones was wrapped around her neck with a cord reaching to the CD Walkman on her bedside table, and Sum 41 was whispering from it. She turned her head to the side and moaned in her sleep while attempting to bat the sunlight away with her hand. But the light just wouldn't go away, so she parted her eyelids slightly and peered around the room – the large, strange, unfamiliar room.

This wasn't her room; the walls weren't red, her posters weren't up, and her bed was less comfortable and large than this one – but most of all, her room wasn't this _big_. She thought for a moment… maybe… yes, that had to be it! This was the Toretto household, and she'd come to spend a night away from her house and be with her sister. Then that meant that she'd had a really long dream, zooming through a couple of years at least. That meant that she'd never left her sister, never left her hometown, never been beaten up by her father that night with Damien… awesome!

A knock came to her door, and she had just enough time to sit up and pull the covers over her legs before the door was swung open, revealing Dominic. Well, concluded that she was definitely at the Toretto house… maybe Nino was going to make pancakes that morning, she thought excitedly to herself, thinking of Dom and Mia's father. Dominic looked… bigger. He was taller and more muscular – that was probably just her imagination though.

"Good morning kid," he said to her, in a deep voice she didn't remember perfectly. Once again, she dismissed this to the fact that she was still half-asleep and her imagination was acting up. "Well, aren't you just a ray of sunshine this morning?" jokingly he inquired, giving her a little half-smile. "Well go on, get up, Mia's got breakfast almost ready and we're bringing you to your new school today."

Isabelle groaned – she didn't want to go to school, it was beautiful out! Wait… her _new_ school? When had she changed schools – she'd been going to the same school with the same people for _ages_! She simply nodded and ambled over to the mirror and caught her breath in her throat as she stared at her reflection. So it had to have all happened, because this _definitely_ wasn't what she looked like when she was 11. She was taller, she was paler, and she just looked genuinely older – not to mention the bruise. Isabelle had never gotten into fights when she was younger, nor had she ever gotten into any accidents that would cause her bruises – she was a very careful child, and definitely a "goody-goody". And there was no chance that it would've been caused by her father had she still been eleven, because he adored her, and would never harm her. She never saw him as a violent man, nor had she ever seen him hit anybody – not even Letty. And he was always mad at Letty and yelling at her for some reason or another; whenever the two were in the house at the same time it would be filled with angered shouts. She had never seen her father harmfully lay hands on anybody.

The past week flooded her mind with images – coming home to a note on the fridge from her mother saying she'd left, watching a movie with Damien, her father hitting the two of them, the police station, leaving her home, coming to Los Angeles, reuniting with Letty and the Toretto's, and meeting some new people. A smile was brought to her lips as she thought of the promise from Dominic and the others to teach her to drive. She started rummaging though her clothes (realizing that she would soon need to visit a store for some new ones) and pulled out an ancient pair of faded jeans, a black button-up shirt that was two sizes too large for her, and then pulled her hooded sweatshirt out of the closet. Observing her ensemble in the mirror, she decided that although it wasn't the nicest outfit, or the fanciest, by far, but it would do. She didn't want to wear anything else; she looked fine as she was.

A feminine voice from downstairs hollered, "Hey, chika, hurry it up! You're food's gonna get cold!" It was laced with impatience but slightly amused at the same time.

"I'm coming, Letty, keep your trousers on!" was the younger sister's reply to the statement. There was a figured slight silence during which Isabelle that one of the guys had made a joke, because seconds later laughter and snickers erupted. She couldn't stop the smirk from reaching her lips while she brushed her hair and tied it into a ponytail.

When she reached the kitchen, she found the table surrounded by people eating breakfast, Letty being the only girl as Mia was still cooking. Jesse had half a cigarette between his fingers as he talked spiritedly to Leon, who was laughing quietly. Her sister and the 'man of the house' were talking in little above a whisper, probably talking about her, while Vince remained the only silent one at the table. Isa took the only empty chair at the table – between Letty and Vincent – and stared down at the table in front of her. She was still pretty uncomfortable with being in this house – she remembered coming here as a kid, but there were never so many people here.

"Here you go!" Mia broke into her thoughts as she settled a plate of pancakes down in front of the teenager. "Eat up."

A word of thanks quietly escaped the girl's mouth as she shot a small smile up at the chef before she started eating. Nobody seemed to pay any attention to her, not that she really minded. Most of the time she preferred to be left alone, especially around people she didn't know. She watched everybody out of the corners of her eyes, taking in little insignificant details about them – hair, eyes, voices, posture – almost as though she wanted to make sure she'd never forget them. These people willingly shared their home with a girl that only three of them knew, and even those hadn't seen her in several years.

Letty shuffled her chair closer to her sister's and threw an arm around the teenager's shoulders. "You're quiet this morning, Isa. Something wrong?" Grinning, she took the glass of orange juice that was in front of the youngster and took a gulp of it.

"Nothing. Just hate going to new schools, the people always look at you weird. Especially when they're people you haven't seen in almost half a decade," she explained. Isabelle pushed the glass in front of Letty, who automatically laughed and shook her head, causing the younger of the siblings to say, "Nah, take it. I don't really like orange juice anyway. And I'm not all that thirsty."

Letty shrugged and chugged the remaining contents of the glass, resulting in a few chuckles from the guys. "Well then, chika, you ready for school? I'm gonna drive you in, 'cause I'll be damned if you're taking some bus."

Her sister nodded while getting up from her spot and walking out of the kitchen to go brush her teeth. "I'll just be a couple minutes…"

"Hey, hold up a second!" called out the elder sister. The younger stopped and turned around, a questioning look upon her face and her head tilted to the side curiously. Leticia arose and looked her sister over. "You sure you wanna wear that? I know you ain't got a big wardrobe, but I'm sure Mia has something you can wear."

Isabelle shook her head, a few tendrils of chocolate brown hair falling in front of her face – which she flicked behind her ears quickly. "No thanks, this is fine."

"Positive? You sure you don't wanna wear something a little less… warm? It's gonna be hot out today," added the female Toretto.

The teenager looked between the girls, giving them a suspicious look, before saying a little more solidly. "I'm **fine**. And I know what the weather is like here, I lived here for about eleven years, and I lived in Miami the rest of the time." That being said, she offered the group a smile and walked away.

There was an uneasy silence in the room, everybody speculating what the girl's problem with T-shirts was. After a while, Leon piped up with a, "That was weird. What's with that sister of yours, huh Let?"

The addressed female, now sitting on her chair again and stretching her arms out above her head, replied, "Beats me. That girl's a strange one. I'll talk to her about it on the way to school." She gave an involuntary shudder, which made everybody look at her oddly and Dominic put his arm around her. At their expressions she laughed and explained, "Shit, just saying the word _school_ creeps me out."

Mia laughed with the others as she seated herself in the now-vacant chair. A serious expression bestowed itself upon the younger Toretto's face as she opened her mouth to speak. "Letty, now, when you're there, remember something – you're a woman, not some teenage girl. Behave yourself and don't shoot your mouth off at anybody, okay? You're supposed to be mature, and be setting a good example for your sister. Because God knows we don't need her ending up like you, alright?"

"Yes, Mommy," joked the other female, getting laughs from the guys. Seeing the pressing expression still on her friend's face, Letty commented, "It's pretty well too late to be thinking about the impression I'm making on her. She knows me as her big sister, the one who was always getting in trouble at school, and hanging out with these two punks –" she motioned towards Vince, and patted Dominic on the chest "– and obsessed with cars, and getting into fights with everyone. And if I wanted her to become the perfect little girl, I wouldn't have moved out of the house, or let her go to Florida. Besides, Mia, you're making me sound like a terrible person here, like some punk teenager! And you're making it seem like _you_ want to be her role model."

There was a menacing silence, broken by a thud in the hallway that was Isabelle dumping her schoolbag on the floor. "Sis, get your butt moving, I'm ready!" called the girl.

The females who were still in the kitchen exchanged dangerous looks, almost like warnings to each other, as the older one rose from her chair. "Yeah, coming chika," replied Letty. She whispered something in Dominic's ear before planting a kiss on his neck, and then waved good-bye to the rest of her housemates. As she entered the hall, she found her sibling standing in the open doorway to the outside world and chuckled.

"What now?" inquired the younger.

A smile widened appeared on Letty's lips as she replied, "You've gotta go to school. Sucker."

* * *

"So, Isabelle, here we are!" Letty said, puling into the parking lot which was covered with about three dozen car. Many of them were old ones that the staff more than likely owned, and most of the remainder were the typical rich boy cars that daddy bought them. However, as she exited her Nissan SX 240 and brought her sunglasses down to the tip of her nose to scan the vehicles, she did notice a few sweet rides. Whistles and catcalls began to erupt from teenage drivers and their friends as she walked around the car to the passenger side to open the door for her sister. She casually flipped them off, resulting in some laughs and a couple sexist comments. 

Isabelle shook her head as she went to retrieve her bookbag out of the trunk. "You realize you'll soon have a shitload of teen boys coming to the house and asking you out, right?"

The elder Maroulis just smiled and nodded. "Nothing I can't handle. And you realize you'll have a bunch of them hounding you for my number?" Her smile widened, but seconds later disappeared as one of the whistler's made his was over to the girls, one thought in mind. "Let me handle this, okay chika?" Letty more told her sister than asked, receiving a nod in reply.

"Hey, baby," the male introduced himself. By his appearance, he looked to be a senior, and probably on a sports team, and definitely popular, one of those guys who slept with half the girls. He went to place his hand on Letty's waist, all the while placing himself in front of her, looking enticingly into her eyes. "Haven't seen you around here before…"

Isabelle laughed as her sister rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's because I don't go to school anymore," replied Leticia simply, forcefully slapping his hand away and resisting the urge to teach him a lesson. "Now listen, boy, why don't you go back to your little boyfriends over there and hit on some airhead cheerleader bimbos?" She turned away from the male and, putting her arm around her sibling.

But the child would not give up. He inched closer to her. "Don't go to school? So you must be a college chick then… how about you come over to my house after school and 'tutor' me?"

"Listen, kid," she began, pushing him away, "I never went to no fucking college. And by the way, you should really tune up those lines of yours, they suck pretty bad. Even if I liked that annoying, little kid, pathetic, high-school, scrawny ass, football player style, those crappy pick-up lines would turn me away any day." She walked away from him, towards the entrance of the school, with her sister following close behind, laughing.

"Jeez, Let, did you have to be so hard on the pathetic loser?" inquired the teenager as they entered the school.

Letty nodded, still smiling, as she led the way towards the principal's office. "Of course, otherwise he wouldn't give up and he might have to deal with Dom." She laughed and knocked on the door to the office; a middle-aged man in a black suit, who looked to be well kept, answered it.

"And you are?" he inquired simply. He was not going to let these two girls into his office, when one of them looked like a ruffian off the street and the other like a trollop, until he knew who they were.

The younger of the two was slightly taken aback by his apparent hostility, but the older one took it in stride. "I'm Letty Maroulis, and this is Isabelle Maroulis. I spoke with your secretary yesterday about enrolling her into your school, she said to come here before school started to straighten away some paperwork and get her books… She also said that she'd have a schedule ready for us." Isabelle gave an odd look to her sister – she'd just been serious and professional for more than five seconds! Perhaps there was more to her long-lost, newly-found sister than she'd thought.

"Ah, right, right! I am Fredrick Santino, the principal of this institution! Come in, young ladies, come in!" he exclaimed, quickly moving out of the way to allow them access, and becoming polite as well. "Please, take a seat, would you? I'll just be a moment…" He motioned towards a couple chairs in front of his desk while he opened a door on the side of his room and exited. The two girls sat quietly, both examining the plain room, until the principal returned with a file in hand. With a chuckle he said, "You know, my secretary was occupied for half the day after you called, making up a schedule and everything for Isabelle."

The file was passed across the birch surface to the females, who opened it to see several sheets of paper. A timetable, a book list, and several letters for her "parent or guardian"… Everything seemed to be in order. "Tell your secretary," Isabelle piped up, "that she did a wonderful job and we are thankful. Now where can we get these school books, sir?"

Mr. Santino grinned – the girl seemed to be well behaved, polite, and (by the looks of her grades from her previous school) smart as well. "Ah, I will show you in a moment. We should still have these books in our book room – if not, we can order them, and that should only take a couple of days. Come now, let's give you a tour of the school, shall we?"

The tour took nearly fifteen minutes, in which she'd been brought to all of her classrooms as well as important areas such as the gymnasium and cafeteria. Also, she'd been able to purchase the books she would need, so she was pretty well set for school life. As the school started to fill with students and the first warning bell for homeroom began, they returned to the front entrance.

"I'll see you after school then, Letty?" inquired the younger of the sisters, pulling the older into a tight embrace.

Letty laughed a little as she hugged the girl back. "Yeah, someone will be here to pick you up. More than likely me, but if I'm busy I'll make sure somebody picks you up. Oh, and if, ten minutes after school ends, call me. You remember the number, right? To the garage… and the house, and the store… and I think I gave you Dominic's cell as well."

Isa nodded and smiled, taking her wallet out of her back pocket and opening it to reveal a sheet of paper with half a dozen numbers on it. "Yeah, they're all here… you gave me the numbers to Vince's and Mia's cell phones too. Anyway, good-bye." She hugged her sister one last time as the second warning bell rang.

"Alright, then. Come on, Miss Maroulis, I'll bring you to your homeroom," the principal said. The teenager nodded and followed him a short way to Room 313, where he knocked on the door. A young-looking man, probably Letty's age, opened the door wide and chatted with Mr. Santino for a few moments regarding the girl.

Isabelle entered the room when told to, and quickly took a seat at the back of the class, next to the window. All the students looked at her weird and started talking, wondering who she was. Because seriously, what had happened to that girl, if she'd come in May and had this big bruise on her face? She ignored the whispers and watched as Letty entered the Nissan SX 240, but was jerked from her mind when the teacher started talking.

"Students, this is Isabelle Maroulis. She just moved here from Miami, Florida, and will be staying with us for the rest of the year. Isabelle, would you like to get up and say some things about yourself?" he inquired.

She shrugged but stood up anyway, and walked to the front of the class. She always hated doing this, everybody was so quick to judge you and classify you when this kind of thing happened. "I'm Isabelle Maroulis. I'm 16, recently got my driver's permit, and just moved in with my older sister that I haven't seen in five years. I used to live here when I was younger, up until I was eleven and my sister moved out, then my father moved us to Miami. I love cars, and I kind of work at DT Garage."

"Kind of?" asked one of the boys in the back.

Isabelle nodded. "Yeah, you see, I know the owner, and he says that I can help out there whenever I want."

One of the girls in the back, a skinny blonde with a high-pitched voice, inquired, "So what's with the bruise, huh? Looks like you got a good smack in the face there."

"Yeah, I did. It was an incident involving my boyfriend." She smiled for a moment, and when her classmates gave her a look as though she had three heads, she added, "Hey, and if you think this bruise looks painful, you should see him."

* * *

**Me**: So, what did you think? Hmmm? Tell me by pressing that amazing little review button down there! 'Til next chapter… Oh, wait! I would like to once again thank each and every person that reviewed the last chapter! Bye now. 


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